Move Time Machine backup to *smaller* drive?

I'm trying to move my Time Machine backup from my Drobo to another disk, so I can reformat my Drobo, then copy back the TM back. The problem is that I don't have a disk that's bigger then the Drobo, so I need to copy it onto a smaller disk before copying it back to the Drobo.

I've tried to do this the way that's described all over the web (using Disk Utility), but this always results in the error: Restore Failure, Not enough space on /dev/disk1s2 to restore. I believe this is because everyone is going to a *bigger* disk and I'm trying to go the other way.

I've also tried to use Carbon Copy Cloner, but this doesn't seem to do anything at all.

Yep. Exactly that. Through Disk Utility, I selected restore and dragged my current Time Machine drive into Source and my smaller 'backup' drive into Destination. This gives the above error every time. I've also tried unmounting, remounting and rebooting, but this seems to have no affect.

I'm trying to move my Time Machine backup from my Drobo to another disk, so I can reformat my Drobo, then copy back the TM back. The problem is that I don't have a disk that's bigger then the Drobo, so I need to copy it onto a smaller disk before copying it back to the Drobo.

I've tried to do this the way that's described all over the web (using Disk Utility), but this always results in the error: Restore Failure, Not enough space on /dev/disk1s2 to restore. I believe this is because everyone is going to a *bigger* disk and I'm trying to go the other way.

I've also tried to use Carbon Copy Cloner, but this doesn't seem to do anything at all.

This reply is very late, but for the benefit of anyone still following this thread (or forthcoming), I believe I have the answer.

I tried to use Disk Utility (and also rsync, asr, and ditto all as superuser) to clone my Time Machine drive to a new one. The original drive was larger than the destination drive, however the size of the occupied space on the original drive was significantly smaller than the destination drive. Thus, I was surprised when I was told by Disk Utility that there was not enough room on the destination drive to restore.

On a hunch, I examined my old Time Machine drive using Drive Genius and noticed that it was highly fragmented. So, I allowed Drive Genius to defragment the original drive. Afterwards, I was able to use Disk Utility to restore the files to my new drive.

Thus, I think the solution is to defragment your original Time Machine drive first. You can use Disk Utility or, presumably, another defragmenting tool.

MacRumors attracts a broad audience
of both consumers and professionals interested in
the latest technologies and products. We also boast an active community focused on
purchasing decisions and technical aspects of the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac platforms.